H20: Just add Ingo
by Charlie-Mae I love you
Summary: Roger has moved the family over to Australia because of work, forcing Sapphire to leave Ingo behind. What'll happen when she meets three mermaids, with a secret similar to hers? Set after series one of H2O: Just add water, and The Crossing of Ingo. Rated T for later content.


******Yo! This one's from Shamira the Guardian, and her clever brain! My words, her brain. Read and review my friends, read and review.  
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* * *

**Sapphire**

"Sapphire, Sapphire! Wake up!" Roger's voice is loud in my ear, and I turn around, attempting to block him out.

Except I can't. The stiff airplane seats bar my access to a more comfortable place. Oh yes. I'm on an airplane. Once again, I've been ripped away from our cottage, the cove, and everything dear to me. Even Conor's angry at this move, with Rainbow being left behind just after the start of their budding romance.

"We're here Sapphy! Say hello to Australia!" Mum's voice pipes up, and I drag myself from the keen clutches of sleep, where I'm perfectly happy to stay, if only I was allowed.

I dreamt that Faro was taking me current surfing, and we skipped through them, jumping from current to current, and I loved the way my hair streamed behind me, and my legs pressed together as if they'd fused into a tail...

"Sapphire!" Roger says once more. His voice is _really _annoying sometimes.

"'M awake, I'm awake. Chill." I sit up. Conor is on my left, and he looks vaguely green.

Who knew he was prone to travel sickness? Mum is on my right, and her eyes are shining with happiness. The plane is just touching down, and whereas all the other passengers are happy to be getting off such a long flight, I feel like I've left my stomach somewhere else. Probably Cornwall.

"C'mon Con, we gotta get off now." I mumble, leading Conor away from our seats as people slowly file out.

Roger has Conor's carry on, and I have mine. The tiny suitcase that contains all of my worldly possessions that I really need. The other stuff is coming later, on a cargo ship that is lucky enough to be able to cut through the waters of Ingo on its journey here. Not on a stuffy airplane with a few hundred other people who have disgusting sleeping habits like drooling, snoring, and leaning their greasy hair on Conor so that he flinches away.  
The airport feels very open after the long plane ride, but there're still things to be done. We didn't bring any other luggage than our carry ons, which contain a few changes of clothes, so we skip by the luggage carousels, and head straight to immigration.

The wait takes forever. By the time we're through immigration, and have taken care of the car Roger rented, Conor and I are exhausted. We fall asleep just as the sun is rising over the Australian plains.

* * *

**Cleo**

"We will be welcoming a new student into our class on Monday. She's flown all the way from England, and I want you to make her feel welcome." The teacher says, her blonde hair quivering slightly.

The bell rings, and I jump up, snatching my school bag from under the desk.

"Cleo! Hey!" Rikki runs up beside me, and I walk faster.

"_What, _Rikki?" I'm exasperated, and I know exactly what she's going to ask.

It'll be something about an essay she hasn't done, and can she _please _just take a peek at mine because she knows that she's got the right idea, she just wants to do it right the first time.

"Em and I are heading down to Mako later, you coming or what?" Well, that's a surprise, a nice one too.

"Oh, and can I just take a peek at your bio-chem. paper, mine's not quite finished." She finishes, looking at me hopefully.

I sigh, and pull said paper out of my bag and hand it to her before speeding off home.

**Emma**

"You shouldn't just take advantage of Cleo like that, it's not fair." I say, giving Rikki my best teacher look.

Once again, she's convinced Cleo to let her look at an essay that Cleo's already done.

"Cleo can fight her own battles, _Mum_" Rikki rolls her eyes at me, and I ignore her.

"Did she say she'd meet us here?" I ask, spreading my arms out in the water and making small circles.

Rikki nods, and copies what I'm doing. I love the moon pool. It's completely safe here, because no-one who doesn't already know about us is hardly likely to come here. Our tails sit under the water, glittering in the evening light filtering through the top of the volcano. They're so ungainly on land, but in the water, they're so much better than feet. I can't ever remember enjoying swimming more.

* * *

**Sapphire**

"Do I have to go to school today?" I moan, "We've been here two days! We've not even gotten over jet lag!" Mum just leaves my room to go and wake Conor.

I roll over, and fall out of the tiny camp bed I've slept on since we got here. Rubbing my head, I get up, and pull my t-shirt and shorts on. My first day of school, I might as well make a good impression. My hair is up on my head, brushed and shiny, in a bun I never thought I'd see on me. It sits on the top of my head, seemingly making a mockery of the current situation. Roger's taking us both in today, and leaving us with the head teacher before dropping off the rental car back at the garage it belongs to.

"Get up slow pokes! There're eggs on the table!" Roger calls down the hall before going back downstairs.

Why does he have to be so damn _likeable_? I know I have to be nice because Mum married him, but I don't even blame him for us moving to Australia. It was the smartest thing to do with his diving opportunities being over here. Mum has rented out our cottage again, to Gloria Fortune, which I can't argue with, because it's still ours, and I like and know Gloria and Richard.

I just don't like being in Australia. I know there's Ingo here, but not an Ingo I know, no Faro, Saldowr, even Elvira or Mordowrgi. There is the whale's daughter, but it was a bit awkward last time we met each other.

I had something so special in my life, and now that special thing has been ripped away from me. I don't even know if Ingo exists here, or if there are any Mer besides the ones we met on the Crossing.

"Sapphy! Conor! You'll be late if you don't hurry up!" Roger calls, and I slink down the stairs, before sitting at the table, and putting my head on my arms.

Conor comes down after me, and he looks just as tired. Mum thought we should be thrown straight into the culture, without even giving us a week to recover from the jetlag that's reversed our days and nights.

"Where's Mum?" I say, my voice croaky from lack of sleep.

Roger spoons some scrambled eggs onto a plate for me, and places it in front of me. I sit up and begin to eat. Mmm, why is he such a good cook? Conor gets some eggs as well, and wolfs his down.

"Your mother's already gone to work." Roger says, glancing at his watch. He whips our clean plates away, and places them in the sink, before handing us our school bags, and ushering us out of the door, and into the car.

* * *

**Rikki**

"This is Sapphire Trewhella, class. She's just moved to Australia from Cornwall." Our teacher has a claw like grip on the girl at the front's shoulder.

We already know all this; you told us this on Friday. Ugh, teachers. The girl at the front is small. Her head probably just reaches to my nose, and I'm not exactly tall. A bag that looks too big for her is slung over her shoulder. At least she's dressed like us, in shorts and a t-shirt, but she's very pale, like she hasn't seen much sun. It contrasts deeply with her dark eyes and hair, which is piled on top of her head. I've seen hair like that before, favoured by posh brats everywhere. Once released, she goes to the back of the room, and takes a seat out of the view of everyone. Hmmpf. She'd better not get in my way.

**Emma**

"This is Sapphire Trewhella, class. She's just moved to Australia from Cornwall." The poor girl looks terrified.

She's curious looking, like waves are breaking over her face. Her eyes are so dark that I can't tell if her eyes are blue, or brown. It's obvious she doesn't want to be here, and one of her hands is shaking, but she keeps it in her pocket to hide it. I would try to be her friend, except for the danger of anybody getting too close to my group of friends. She heads to the back of the class, and sits down, looking as if she's going to cry. I'll be nice to her at the very least.

**Cleo**

"This is Sapphire Trewhella, class. She's just moved to Australia from Cornwall." I know that everyone else can see that she looks like she's about to cry, but I wonder if they can see that hidden fire sitting in the depths of her eyes.

There's something about her, like she's got a secret. A secret as vast as the oceans, and as precious as a diamond. She looks like us. Is she a mermaid? No, she can't be. The only moon pool we know of is here, in Australia, on Mako. I'll see if I can talk to her, maybe be a friend. When she sits at the back, the rest of the class turn back, but I see her pull her incredibly long hair down, and shoot me a look that pierces me, before she hides behind her hair.

* * *

**Sapphire**

No-one in her has a look of Ingo on their faces. This disappoints me, even though I'd told myself not to expect it. Conor and I thought we were the only ones in the world who had split blood before we met the Fortunes. The teacher seems nice enough. Nervous, as she introduces me to the class, her voice twanging. I wonder if I'll ever pick up that accent. I hope not, it would be like losing the last of my heritage. Generations of Trewhella's lived in Senara, and now there's probably a very slim chance that Conor and I will be buried with our ancestors. The sooner I can get out of here, the better. I take my hair down when I'm at the back. I've always preferred it down, and it provides a handy curtain for me to hide behind.

The school is okay I guess. Better funding than my old school. My old school had my friends though, like Katie. I think I'd even be glad to see Josie Sancreed. I just want to be back in Cornwall, sitting around a fire on Polquidden with Conor, Patrick, and Rainbow, or going out in Roger's boat. More than that, I want to dive beneath the waves, and meet Faro's teasing smile. I had just begun to get really close to my little brother when we were leaving. He would grab fistfuls of my hair, and use it to tether himself while he attempted to swim, his little tail wiggling erratically. Even Conor was enchanted by him.

Of course, Mum and Roger didn't know about our family beneath the waves, about Mellina, who would always gather sea grapes and meet with us in the Groves of Aleph. They didn't know about Faro, who would hug me tight, pressing my head against his chest, and remind me about how he nearly lost me to Nanuq. Elvira, who still visited occasionally from the North.

The bell rings, and jerks me from my reverie, I stand, and pull my bag back onto my shoulder. Now I have to head out to the parking lot, and wait for Conor and Roger.

* * *

**Cleo**

I try to go catch up to the new girl, Sapphire, but she gets lost easily in the crowd, with her tiny height, and when it clears, she's already left. I guess I'll go straight to Mako, and chase her another day.

**Emma**

"Hey Cleo," I say as she swims in, "What do you think about the new girl?" Rikki's already voiced her opinions, and left the moon pool to go find us a table at the Juicenet.

"There's not really much to think, we know nothing about her." She says, her brow furrowing.

"But...?" I ask, hearing her voice pitch up at the end of her sentence.

"But she seems odd, like she's cradling a secret." I nod, knowing exactly what she means.

The weirdly fleeting look of breaking waves on her face still sits in my mind.

"Rikki's gone to the Juicenet, we shouldn't keep her waiting." I say, before diving under the entrance to the moon pool.

I feel Cleo follow, and we head out, loving the feel of the water combing out our hair as we race underwater. We're about halfway back to the mainland, with about a mile and a half before we can reach anywhere private enough to dry off, when it happens.

A dark cloud on a reef that I first thought was just sea weed, moves, and swims up a little. A dolphin greets the girl who is steadily breathing the ocean in and out. It almost seems like they're conversing, in a strange, foreign language that sounds like tides rushing to meet the clicks and whistles they're both emitting.

Cleo's seen the girl as well, but there's more shock than I thought believable on her face, because when the girl, who has two legs, but isn't drowning, climbs on the dolphin, her hair clears from her face. I recognise her immediately.

She's the new girl, Sapphire Trewhella.

**Hey friends, fiends, and demons! Me and my mer pals over here got this idea from the lovely Shamira the Guardian, who allowed me to adopt this story. Thank her, and please please please please please review! Love you all!  
~Ocean-runner xoxoxoxo 3**


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